Author: M'Hamed Cherif
Source: download
During the development of the "Assertiveness Coffee Cards" we, at Cutesolutions, have thoroughly reviewed the literature on neuro-psychology to find out what recent discoveries say on assertiveness. Major strides have been made in unravelling the processes guiding our behaviour, in identifying the causes for a great number of cognitive disabilities and deepening understanding of the human traits. But, the brain is still far from giving away its secrets, though a lot has,, quality control, quality control, already been achieved in understanding the nuts and bolts of thinking and feeling. Progress has been made in understanding such typically human qualities such as humour and sarcasm. Undoubtedly, an individual' view is formed both by their genes and by how their brain has been moulded by experience. Some studies have, however, suggested predisposition for assertiveness. It is not science-fiction anymore to think that prospective parents will be able to design their children at the computer, scrolling through genetic menus to choose specific gene clusters for assertiveness and other, quality control, qualities. But, I doubt it if this is desirable for the human race. A better route is to learn to be assertive. Nevertheless, understanding the influence of our makeup on assertiveness is helpful and suggests practical ways, quality control, to learn the assertiveness skills.
Neural development is a staggering complex process, which scientists are only beginning to get the first clues about. It involves neural activity in, quality control, specific parts of the brain and a lot of traffic between various areas of the brain. The result of our neural connections and activity determines the extent of which we are assertive or not. A significant amount of neural activity takes place in the limbic system, without us being conscious, quality control, of it, quality control, . Sexual assertiveness is a well known case where men are thought to be more assertive than women because the centre of male-specific sexual behaviour receives signals from nuclei in the amygdala that are, quality control, concerned with producing assertive or aggressive behaviour. This is by no means exceptional. In fact, a significant amount of communication between humans is unconscious. Everything coming in through the senses goes first to the thalamus where it is sorted and shunted onward to appropriate processing areas, notably the amygdala - the brain's alarm system - for generation of emotional responses: disgust, fear, anger and parental love. So, it is a fact of life that your eye talk, gesture,, quality control, intonation and posture generate emotional responses of liking or disliking that affect the power of your assertive behaviour.
Fortunately, there is a two-way ebb and flow of traffic between this limbic system and the frontal lobes, where consciousness, morality, free will, responsibility and assertiveness are rooted literally in flesh. Just as emotions and feedback from our body affect our thoughts and behaviour, so the way we think and behave can affect our unconscious reactions. The frontal lobes are responsible for our conscious perception of emotion and our ability to attend and focus. Most important of all, they endow our experience with meaning and our being with a sense of purpose. So, the frontal lobes fee people from, quality control, the tyranny and urges of their emotions and bestow a quality we may refer to as free will, with which must come responsibility. Assertiveness has a lot to do with being centred and able to control emotions so as to be able to act in your own, quality control, best interest by expressing your thoughts and feelings directly and honestly without violating the rights of others. To achieve, quality control, such as a centred state of mind, one must me aware of own mind's constraints, prejudices, cognitive reflexes and misconstructions. That is why Cutesolutions has developed a class of techniques - The, quality control, You Class - to provide the learner with practical means to achieve state of mind where the expression of thoughts and feelings is facilitated.
For further information, please contact us at:
Cutesolutions
30, rue Josse IMPENS
1030 Brussels - Belgium
Tel +32-2-2155157 Fax +32-2-2156416
Ibl.belgiumtelenet.be
http://www.cute4u.net
Under the leadership of Sarah CHERIF,, quality control, Cutesolutions, quality control, has been developing the "Coffee Cards" series of techniques for self-improvement and business management. The author holds a Ph.D from the Free, quality control, University of Brussels and has a long experience in communication, negotiation and project management. He is an ex-official of the World Bank and a consultant on developmental issues. He has worked extensively for the European Commission on the design and implementation of macroeconomic and sectoral programmes.
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leadership. Show all posts
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Management Leader
Author: Gaylen Thornton
Source: ezinearticles.com
Management and leadership, are they the,, quality control, quality control, same or different? The topic has been discussed, debated, and argued over for many years. In the past the terms were used interchangeably in business but in recent years there has developed a clear definition and function for each role.
EM Kelly said, "Remember the difference, quality control, between a boss and a leader; a boss says 'GO!' - a leader says, "Let's go." That is an apt description of the role of a manager, quality control, and leader.
Managers have subordinates and receive authority when the company entrusts them with their management position. By the nature of their roles, the subordinates follow the manager's directives. Managers focus on tactile activities and most times have a more directive, quality control, and controlling approach. This is not a negative trait, being able to organize people to accomplish tasks is an asset to an organization. Managers are paid to get things accomplished and they pass this on, quality control, to those in their charge.
One trait that will help managers to accomplish, quality control, their responsibility is a positive attitude towards those they manage. There is nothing wrong with a pleasant good-natured approach to people and problems. One-reason managers do not use it more often is that under pressure of business people sometimes take themselves to seriously. They start to think about there problems and feelings and forget about others they manage. Another reason managers do not use a positive and pleasant attitude under, quality control, pressure is the myth they believe that a manager must be gruff or grumpy in order to appear firm and decisive and to get things done. The grumpy, gruff, dictator, quality control, manager, quality control, soon loses respect of those he needs to accomplish the work. A manager can be firm and decisive with a smile on their face and a pleasant attitude and be just as convincing once the people learn that the manager means what they say and sticks to it.
Leaders can be organizations managers and have those characteristics but they need an additional set of skills Leaders do not have subordinates, at least not when they are leading. A leader must give up formal authoritarian control when leading because following is always a voluntary activities.
Telling people what to do does not "inspire" people to follow. Leaders appeal to people and show them how to follow and perhaps take risks in situations they, quality control, normally would not do. Excellent leadership skills are innate and therefore harder to learn. One trait that every outstanding leader has is the ability to check, quality control, their ego at the door. They are more concerned with the people they lead and giving them credit for the success and taking the blame when things do not go as planned.
If you think of several of the best leaders you have worked for they all have, quality control, traits in common in addition to giving credit and praise to employees, some of these characteristics are;
Being approachable and easy to talk to always having time for you and listening intently, caring about what was being verbalized.
They rarely became excited or angry at a situation, and they remained positive in the face of adversity and did not let the situation change their outlook.
They showed a consideration for the feelings of the people who worked for them.
Being able to communicate the goals and objective clearly and concisely and obtaining agreement going forward.
Can a manager be a leader or a leader be a manager at the same time? Yes, it is possible for this to happen. Peter Drucker, the outstanding management guru said, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing." This tells us that there are two different skill, quality control, sets needed to be both and they must work together. It is possible for an individual to have both, but it is a rare combination blended together. Keep in mind, there is an abundance of manager in business but very few embody the characteristics of a leader.
Source: ezinearticles.com
Management and leadership, are they the,, quality control, quality control, same or different? The topic has been discussed, debated, and argued over for many years. In the past the terms were used interchangeably in business but in recent years there has developed a clear definition and function for each role.
EM Kelly said, "Remember the difference, quality control, between a boss and a leader; a boss says 'GO!' - a leader says, "Let's go." That is an apt description of the role of a manager, quality control, and leader.
Managers have subordinates and receive authority when the company entrusts them with their management position. By the nature of their roles, the subordinates follow the manager's directives. Managers focus on tactile activities and most times have a more directive, quality control, and controlling approach. This is not a negative trait, being able to organize people to accomplish tasks is an asset to an organization. Managers are paid to get things accomplished and they pass this on, quality control, to those in their charge.
One trait that will help managers to accomplish, quality control, their responsibility is a positive attitude towards those they manage. There is nothing wrong with a pleasant good-natured approach to people and problems. One-reason managers do not use it more often is that under pressure of business people sometimes take themselves to seriously. They start to think about there problems and feelings and forget about others they manage. Another reason managers do not use a positive and pleasant attitude under, quality control, pressure is the myth they believe that a manager must be gruff or grumpy in order to appear firm and decisive and to get things done. The grumpy, gruff, dictator, quality control, manager, quality control, soon loses respect of those he needs to accomplish the work. A manager can be firm and decisive with a smile on their face and a pleasant attitude and be just as convincing once the people learn that the manager means what they say and sticks to it.
Leaders can be organizations managers and have those characteristics but they need an additional set of skills Leaders do not have subordinates, at least not when they are leading. A leader must give up formal authoritarian control when leading because following is always a voluntary activities.
Telling people what to do does not "inspire" people to follow. Leaders appeal to people and show them how to follow and perhaps take risks in situations they, quality control, normally would not do. Excellent leadership skills are innate and therefore harder to learn. One trait that every outstanding leader has is the ability to check, quality control, their ego at the door. They are more concerned with the people they lead and giving them credit for the success and taking the blame when things do not go as planned.
If you think of several of the best leaders you have worked for they all have, quality control, traits in common in addition to giving credit and praise to employees, some of these characteristics are;
Being approachable and easy to talk to always having time for you and listening intently, caring about what was being verbalized.
They rarely became excited or angry at a situation, and they remained positive in the face of adversity and did not let the situation change their outlook.
They showed a consideration for the feelings of the people who worked for them.
Being able to communicate the goals and objective clearly and concisely and obtaining agreement going forward.
Can a manager be a leader or a leader be a manager at the same time? Yes, it is possible for this to happen. Peter Drucker, the outstanding management guru said, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right thing." This tells us that there are two different skill, quality control, sets needed to be both and they must work together. It is possible for an individual to have both, but it is a rare combination blended together. Keep in mind, there is an abundance of manager in business but very few embody the characteristics of a leader.
Gaylen is the Director of Sales for Varsity Contractors, a full service facility service provider.
For free information on How to Clean in a Minute write: gthornton@varsitycontractors.com.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
How to Grow Your Business by Clearing the Way to Growth
Author: Greg Roworth
Source: articleage.com
Is your business growing as fast and effectively as it could, or is it stuck at the same level it has been at for years? Research (Larry Greiner, 1972) has discovered 5 specific stages of business growth. Most business never grow beyond the second, quality control, level. At this level, the business is characterised by a small group of owners (if not a sole owner), supported by a small team of people at an operational level. This describes the 90 plus percent of businesses, which have 10 or fewer staff.
Why should it be this way? The Greiner growth model describes 5 levels of growth that are characterised by the type of organisational structure and leadership style at each stage. The model describes a very obvious and practical problem that is evident in all businesses that grow over time. Growth is never simply a smooth transition from small to large. It occurs in a series of jumps from one level to the next. Growth at each level is limited by the structure and leadership style. A business can grow at each level to a certain extent, but after a while, the activity created by growth makes the structure at that level unwieldy and inefficient, limiting the growth, until the next evolution of the business occurs to solve the inefficiencies at the previous level.
The issue is not that these growth crises occur, but that there is a clear solution to these crises which few businesses take the time to discover. I am sure there are some business owners who want to keep their business small for lifestyle reasons, but I am also sure that if most business owners could find a way to grow their business beyond the current level, they would.
Most businesses that are stuck at the level where the owner(s) work in the business full time (or more) and there are a handful of employees, don't do what it takes to overcome the growth crises that are created at the limit of growth at that level. These crises are evident in the issues of control, where the business is dependent on the skills and input of the owners for most of the results and the owners can spend little time away from the business because performance will suffer in their absence. When work increases, the informality of communication and organisation become a liability resulting in errors, delays, poor quality and unsatisfactory service. Costs blow out and profits shrink rather than grow with increased sales volumes. Many owners conclude that it was easier and more profitable running a smaller business and revert to a scaled down operation. Unfortunately, this means the business and the owners, quality control, never achieve their full potential and end up living a life far below the level that, quality control, could have been accomplished.
Rather than scale down, the business could continue, quality control, growing by, quality control, scaling up. The solution to the growth crisis at this, quality control, level is very clear and the path to growth is well established by the successful ones who have taken the leap to the next level. The answer, quality control, is to re-organise, quality control, the business with the owners delegating more responsibility to the operator level, appointing managers, quality control, to take responsibility for certain functions, combined with developing systems to assist, quality control, in, quality control, maintaining control.
Many businesses increase the problems at this stage when they only increase delegation without increasing control. This is the key to smooth transition through this level. Control tools provide the information to management to ensure the business performs efficiently and profitably, with adequate cash flow. This development is often beyond the skills and experience of business owners who have come from a technical background and have never had training in finance and management areas. It is wise for owners at this stage to seek professional assistance in creating and establishing effective operating systems and control measures, quality control, . As the business grows, the need for greater professionalism grows as well. Owners are wise to commit to a self education program so that they develop the knowledge, quality, quality control, control, and skills to run a business at higher levels.
At the higher, quality control, levels of growth, the crises are more evident in the leadership areas. With growth, the need for increased management and organisation grows proportionately. Sometimes businesses need to be restructured along functional lines, or sometimes organisation, quality control, is more determined by geographic elements. Whatever the case, the need for strong leadership and communication with management levels about performance issues, motivation of personnel and strategic, quality control, elements of the business are of greater concern, quality control, than the technical issues were at lower levels, quality control, . Business owners need to develop their own leadership skills as well as develop or employ highly skilled managers.
If you are frustrated that your business has the potential to grow, but can't find the way through the current hurdles you are facing, which create increased stress, over work and performance issues, perhaps it is time you looked at changing the structure of your business and becoming, quality control, more professional about how you manage it. Unless you make the changes, your, quality control, business will be forever held back. You will not be capable of further growth until you re-create your business to perform efficiently at the next level. You may be held back because your current situation makes you too busy working in the business that you don't have time to work on it, to develop new systems and controls. It is time to bite the bullet. Unless you free yourself to work on reinventing your business to clear the way for growth, you will continue to bounce up against that invisible ceiling you keep hitting,, quality control, without ever being able to break through.
(c) 2005 Greg Roworth, Progressive Business Solutions Limited
Greg Roworth is the Managing, quality control, Director of Progressive Business Solutions Limited, a business development consultancy firm with branches in Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand. Greg has created a unique business development program that assists business owners transform their business from a state of total dependency on them to a state where the business works so well they don't have to.
Greg is also the author of "The 7 Keys to Unlock Your Business Profit Potential," which descibes the fundamental keys a business needs to achieve this transformation. Find out more, get 2 free chapters, or buy the book online at http://www.small-business-success.ws
Source: articleage.com
Is your business growing as fast and effectively as it could, or is it stuck at the same level it has been at for years? Research (Larry Greiner, 1972) has discovered 5 specific stages of business growth. Most business never grow beyond the second, quality control, level. At this level, the business is characterised by a small group of owners (if not a sole owner), supported by a small team of people at an operational level. This describes the 90 plus percent of businesses, which have 10 or fewer staff.
Why should it be this way? The Greiner growth model describes 5 levels of growth that are characterised by the type of organisational structure and leadership style at each stage. The model describes a very obvious and practical problem that is evident in all businesses that grow over time. Growth is never simply a smooth transition from small to large. It occurs in a series of jumps from one level to the next. Growth at each level is limited by the structure and leadership style. A business can grow at each level to a certain extent, but after a while, the activity created by growth makes the structure at that level unwieldy and inefficient, limiting the growth, until the next evolution of the business occurs to solve the inefficiencies at the previous level.
The issue is not that these growth crises occur, but that there is a clear solution to these crises which few businesses take the time to discover. I am sure there are some business owners who want to keep their business small for lifestyle reasons, but I am also sure that if most business owners could find a way to grow their business beyond the current level, they would.
Most businesses that are stuck at the level where the owner(s) work in the business full time (or more) and there are a handful of employees, don't do what it takes to overcome the growth crises that are created at the limit of growth at that level. These crises are evident in the issues of control, where the business is dependent on the skills and input of the owners for most of the results and the owners can spend little time away from the business because performance will suffer in their absence. When work increases, the informality of communication and organisation become a liability resulting in errors, delays, poor quality and unsatisfactory service. Costs blow out and profits shrink rather than grow with increased sales volumes. Many owners conclude that it was easier and more profitable running a smaller business and revert to a scaled down operation. Unfortunately, this means the business and the owners, quality control, never achieve their full potential and end up living a life far below the level that, quality control, could have been accomplished.
Rather than scale down, the business could continue, quality control, growing by, quality control, scaling up. The solution to the growth crisis at this, quality control, level is very clear and the path to growth is well established by the successful ones who have taken the leap to the next level. The answer, quality control, is to re-organise, quality control, the business with the owners delegating more responsibility to the operator level, appointing managers, quality control, to take responsibility for certain functions, combined with developing systems to assist, quality control, in, quality control, maintaining control.
Many businesses increase the problems at this stage when they only increase delegation without increasing control. This is the key to smooth transition through this level. Control tools provide the information to management to ensure the business performs efficiently and profitably, with adequate cash flow. This development is often beyond the skills and experience of business owners who have come from a technical background and have never had training in finance and management areas. It is wise for owners at this stage to seek professional assistance in creating and establishing effective operating systems and control measures, quality control, . As the business grows, the need for greater professionalism grows as well. Owners are wise to commit to a self education program so that they develop the knowledge, quality, quality control, control, and skills to run a business at higher levels.
At the higher, quality control, levels of growth, the crises are more evident in the leadership areas. With growth, the need for increased management and organisation grows proportionately. Sometimes businesses need to be restructured along functional lines, or sometimes organisation, quality control, is more determined by geographic elements. Whatever the case, the need for strong leadership and communication with management levels about performance issues, motivation of personnel and strategic, quality control, elements of the business are of greater concern, quality control, than the technical issues were at lower levels, quality control, . Business owners need to develop their own leadership skills as well as develop or employ highly skilled managers.
If you are frustrated that your business has the potential to grow, but can't find the way through the current hurdles you are facing, which create increased stress, over work and performance issues, perhaps it is time you looked at changing the structure of your business and becoming, quality control, more professional about how you manage it. Unless you make the changes, your, quality control, business will be forever held back. You will not be capable of further growth until you re-create your business to perform efficiently at the next level. You may be held back because your current situation makes you too busy working in the business that you don't have time to work on it, to develop new systems and controls. It is time to bite the bullet. Unless you free yourself to work on reinventing your business to clear the way for growth, you will continue to bounce up against that invisible ceiling you keep hitting,, quality control, without ever being able to break through.
(c) 2005 Greg Roworth, Progressive Business Solutions Limited
Greg Roworth is the Managing, quality control, Director of Progressive Business Solutions Limited, a business development consultancy firm with branches in Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand. Greg has created a unique business development program that assists business owners transform their business from a state of total dependency on them to a state where the business works so well they don't have to.
Greg is also the author of "The 7 Keys to Unlock Your Business Profit Potential," which descibes the fundamental keys a business needs to achieve this transformation. Find out more, get 2 free chapters, or buy the book online at http://www.small-business-success.ws
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)